Religious Freedom Day
Friday, January 16, 2026
National Religious Freedom Day is in the truest sense both a religious and a secular holiday. It
marks the anniversary of the passage of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, the 1786
colonial statute that disestablished the Anglican Church in Virginia and set the foundation for
Separation of Church and State. Thomas Jefferson marked this statute as one of his greatest
achievements. Among other things it declared the following:
- "that to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical,
- "that our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics or geometry,
- "that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of Religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or affect their civil capacities."
Congress first marked Religious Freedom Day in 1993. It is a day to reflect on the hard-won separation of civic and religious life, and to refresh our resolve to inform fellow citizen about liberty of conscience in matters of faith, a liberty which must include both freedom of and from religion. Because otherwise, it is no freedom at all.
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